On a February day 47 years ago, a large crane collapsed onto a ferry in Manaus, the capital of Amazonas, Brazil, causing a bus to sink into the water. When search and rescue workers arrived to rescue them, they discovered a horrifying scene: 38 passengers on the bus had been bitten by some kind of animal, all of them were then reduced to skeletons. .

The local government at that time immediately established an investigation team to analyze the cause of this accident and tragedy. According to clues and accounts of survivors, the ground was slippery due to heavy rain on the day of the accident, and many people fell into the water and tried to swim to shore.

However, during the swimming process, their legs were injured by some kind of wild animal bites. Many people tried to endure the pain to swim to shore to escape. The other passengers did not have time to jump out and drowned in the bus.

Biologists have given the final answer: in the river, the animal that can bite people and leave victims with only skeletons can only be tiger fish – piranhas.

There are more than 30 types of piranha fish living in the Amazon River basin. Most piranhas are considered bloodthirsty aquatic “devils”. Although only about 20cm in length, they have sharp, saw-like fangs, a strong bite force and the characteristic of living in groups. These things have made them one of the top predators in the Amazon basin.

Piranhas can easily bite through a 5-layer aluminum box and can leave tooth marks on super hard beef bones. Wherever there are schools of piranhas, there is a scary atmosphere.

In the vicinity of the Amazon river basin, there are many ferocious animals that make many people feel scared such as: electric eels, crocodiles, giant otters, anacondas, piranhas… and piranhas are species of fish. makes many people feel the most scared.

The piranha’s lower jaw has sharp, knife-like teeth protruding forward, meshing with the upper jaw to form a guillotine shape. When biting, these teeth can quickly cut off all the prey’s muscles.

Some piranha species have 2 parallel rows of teeth in the upper jaw and only six large teeth protrude outside but there are 7 fangs hidden inside.

Like most fish, piranhas do not chew, and can bite off a three centimeter square piece of meat in one bite. With their ability to swallow quickly, piranhas can easily eat prey dozens or hundreds of times larger than them. It only takes about 10 minutes for a group of tigers to turn their prey into a white skeleton.

Piranha fish have a thick back, looking from the side of the head it looks like a steep mountain with super hard scales. This hard keratin scale can play a very good protection role from friction and external impact, and this scale also has strong regeneration ability.

Both sides of the piranha’s body have lateral lines, this is an important structure for them to sense water pressure and vibration frequency. One end of the lateral line is the external opening of the nervous system conductor in the fish’s body. , the other end is sensitive sensory cells, so this is also one of the most important hunting weapons of piranhas.

Piranhas are very sensitive to blood, fishy smells and rancid smells, because the top of the fish’s mouth has nostrils made of mucous membrane tissue. So when there is blood or carrion in the water, piranhas will always be the first to notice.

During the spawning period, the piranha’s body color will change. Some piranha species that are initially red will transform their bodies into rainbow-like colors during spawning.

The female piranha will push the aquatic plant aside to clean the mud, then lay about 500 fish eggs there, the male fish will swim to the top of the fish eggs to fertilize, the fertilized eggs can hatch in within two days. And a few days later, the already existing fry can eat, the size of baby piranhas is only about 1cm and at this time they will eat insects, shellfish, small fish and shrimp.

Some piranha species are very cunning and show no interest in their prey. When the prey relaxes its guard, they will quickly attack. Sometimes piranhas also use aquatic plants to hide and attack prey.

However, the reality is that most piranha species are not as bloodthirsty as the legend says, there are even some piranha species that are only vegetarian, they are more interested in ripe wild fruits floating on the water. Sharp teeth can also crush nuts and fruits, and piranhas are also scavengers, playing a huge role in cleaning up the carcasses of animals in the river.

Nowadays, many people still keep piranhas as ornamental fish, but for safety reasons, keeping piranhas in aquariums is still considered extremely dangerous, should not be tried and piranhas are an exotic species, easily causing harm to humans and harming native ecosystems.

Although piranhas have a terrible name, they also have a positive side, they can help clean up dead animals in the river and clean the water, some piranhas only eat fruit, and can carry seeds to other areas , take root and germinate, and promote species diversity.

In addition, piranha meat is also very delicious, tastier than most types of fish, so local people like to catch them for dinner. Aboriginal people also use piranha teeth to make bows, arrows, knives, and even knives. even a hair cutting tool.

Source: Animalia; Unbelievable; ZME